The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to implement the strategy of actively responding to population aging， charting a clear direction for China’s elderly care initiatives. Under this background， social workers serve as vital human resources in the elderly care service system， and the full realization of their roles and functions is of great importance. British social workers， through long-term practice in the field of health and elderly care， have developed multifaceted roles， such as providers of personalized care， defenders of rights and interests， educators of health， protectors under special circumstances， collaborators of innovation and development， and supporters in the field of health and elderly care， offering valuable insights for China. Combined with the realities of an aging society， efforts should be advanced from four aspects， including enhancing the recognition of social workers， strengthening their professional skills， promoting cooperation with the elderly care industry， and safeguarding the rights of the elderly， with a view to enabling social workers to better provide high-quality services for Chinese elderly groups in the field of health and elderly care.

Objective: To study the difference expression and diagnostic value of ribosomal protein L5 (RPL5) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) of children and adults. Methods: Realtime-PCR was performed to detect the expression of RPL5 in 22 PTC tissues and 13 pericarcinous tissues. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Youden's index were used to evaluate the diagnostic value of RPL5 in PTC of children and adults. Results: The expression of RPL5 in PTC tissues was higher than in pericarcinous tissues. The area under curve (AUC) was 0.820 (P=0.001), and Youden′s index was 0.568. The expression of RPL5 in PTC of adults was higher than children (P<0.05). The AUC and Youden's index were respectively 0.721 (P=0.069) and 0.414 in children, whereas being respectively 0.896 (P=0.0005) and 0.709 in adults. RPL5 in diagnosis of PTC of adults was better than CK19, Galectin-3 and TPO, which are commonly used for the pathologic diagnosis of PTC. Conclusion The expression of RPL5 in PTC is higher than pericarcinous tissues, and its expression in PTC of adults is higher than children. Furthermore, PTC is a potential indicator for diagnosis of PTC.